Six of Crows Fan Fiction

Chapter 8: Kaz

If you knew Kaz, you'd recognise the glare when he stepped over the entrance to the Lucky Leopard. It was a glare of pure determination. A glare you'd run from if you were on the receiving end of, and had any sense. The glare of Dirtyhands, Bastard of the Barrel. He walked up to the bar and looked at the poor barmaid, who had evidently been asked to stay behind by her boss and miss the action. She was not happy about it, and was angrily scrubbing at a piece of non-existent dirt on a glass. She looked up as Kaz reached the bar. 

"What can I get you?" 

"Nothing. I'd like to speak to Miss Garcia."

"No, sorry. She's busy." 

Kaz leaned in and gave the woman an icy cold look, so that she actually shook a little. 

"Sh..she's in the back. Through there." She indicated a small wooden door next to the bar. Kaz nodded, and turned away, heading for the door. If only they all made it that easy for themselves, he thought. Pulling the door handle open, he stepped through, and into the room. It was a staff room, with a small sofa in one corner, a table and chairs in another, and a small door with a bathroom sign. From behind the door came the sound of a tap running, and then the door opened, and a beautiful woman stepped out. She was tall, in her early 30's, with a perfect figure, gorgeous long blond hair and bright blue eyes. Some people might have considered her pretty. 

"Oh. Emmm. Hello." stuttered the woman, obviously confused at the presence of a strange man in the staff room. 

"Miss Garcia." 

"Err. Yes. What do you want?"

"The key" 

"What key?"

"Don't play stupid. You know the key I'm talking about. The Master key to the library that overrides the locking mechanism for the most precious and secure books."

"I don't have a key like that."

"But you do have a key. Maybe he didn't tell you what it was. Fine. I would like the key that a Mr Herbert Smith gifted you, presumably because he thought it would be safer with you. The one you wear around your neck."

The woman tried to play dumb, tried to pretend she didn't own such an item, but Kaz was watching her eyes, and saw them flick for a fraction of a second to the pendant concealed beneath her blouse. The Wraith's information was correct as always. They had only been in the city a few days, but Inej had spent them spying, and the information she had acquired, coupled with the basic plans and descriptions of the library from their employer, had formed the basis of the plan. 

"The key, Miss Garcia. Now." He held out his hand. 

"I..I can't give it to you. I promised Herbert I would keep it safe. I promised." She looked terrified of what he would do to her, but also resolute in her promise to her lover. Kaz looked at his watch. He didn't have time for this. 

"I don't have time for this. If I don't get what I want, I can and will hurt you."

"Can you now?" Responded the woman. She pulled a dagger from her shirt sleeve, as her whole demeanour changed, going from pretty blond bartender to dangerous the instant she was threatened. 

"Did you really think that Herbert would leave such a valuable item in the possession of someone so defenceless?"

"No, I didn't." But the woman cut him off, lunging forward, dagger poised to strike Kaz's heart. He stepped smartly out of the way, and swung his cane up to meet her ankle. It connected with its target with a  sickening crunch, surely fracturing the bones. The woman winced, before regaining her balance, and launching another attack. She threw her dagger hard at Kaz's head, but he ducked, and it wedged itself firmly in the wooden door behind him. Screaming in frustration, she ran at him, her fits raised, and began punching every bit of him she could reach. Her fist connected with his face once, twice, and then he swung his cane at her other ankle, buckling it with a grotesque crunch. The woman's legs gave way, and she ended up on the floor in a panting, groaning heap. Kaz wasted no time in flipping his cane in his hand, and pushing the cold, unforgiving metal crow's head under her chin, forcing her to lie fully on the ground. He pressed slightly, enough so she could feel it, but still breathe. For now. 

"Now," he said, his rasp of a voice quieter and calmer than before, but somehow even more terrifying, "give me the key. I won't ask again." 

"No," choked the woman, "I will never betray him."

*****

Kaz walked out of the staff room a few seconds later, his usually perfectly brushed back hair flopping slightly forwards onto his face, a bruise on one side of his face, and a small cut seeping blood slowly towards his chin on the other, courtesy of the woman's punches. But importantly, in his black gloved hand he held a small, golden key. As he walked past the younger barmaid, she looked up at him, and she would remember the fear she felt as she looked into his cold, hard eyes forever. In a few minutes she would enter the staff room to find the body of her boss, her blank eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling above her, with her icy cold hands still clutched around the now empty golden chain at her neck.